15. Sovereign Shop

If I converted Stone to Wood, I would literally be losing 50% of my Point value right there. And considering that 1 Iron was originally equivalent to roughly 90 Wood in terms of Point value, using this exchange would mean taking a massive loss!

In the end, it turned out to be yet another disappointment.

Honestly, what was even the point of this feature?

But then, later on, as my initial frustration faded and I was finally able to think more carefully, I realized my oversight.

Of course the Material Exchange would be more expensive than buying resources directly with Points!

At first glance, it felt like the System was outright ripping me off. But in certain urgent situations, this feature could actually prove useful.

For instance, if I ever found myself in desperate need of a single Iron ingot to buy or craft something critical — an iron wall reinforcement, for example — then the Material Exchange would allow me to overpay and get the job done immediately, instead of waiting weeks for resources to slowly accumulate through the generator.

And beyond that, a high Point cost didn’t necessarily mean a resource was bad value.

In fact, it could be a good thing.

If the area around me ever turned out to be rich in Iron — say, with nearby veins or abandoned mines that I could somehow exploit cheaply — then Iron would become abundant and cheap for me. In that case, I could exchange the surplus for other, scarcer materials at a favorable rate.

(Not that I had any idea how I could actually mine things right now, since I couldn’t even move, but I was just thinking about the long-term future.)

The reverse was also true.

If Iron could only be obtained through the System and nowhere else in the wild, then its intrinsic value would be far higher than I had initially assumed. In that light, the steep price actually made perfect sense.

After all, pricing was always about supply and demand.

And more importantly, wasn’t the ability to turn one material into something completely different already absurdly convenient?

And so, with these points in mind, suddenly the Material Exchange feature I had just unlocked no longer felt completely useless. But still, it wasn’t something I had any practical use for at the moment.

(Oh, right! I almost forgot!)

I suddenly remembered. There was one more thing unlocked when I upgraded the System Shop!

The Sovereign Shop!

I couldn’t help but wonder… what exactly was that supposed to be?

****

I opened the Sovereign Shop and scanned the list. Turns out, this shop was entirely dedicated to managing my future citizens.

Through this shop, I could obtain some really, really nice things called Sovereign Skills!

Right now, my Sovereign Shop was only Level 1, but it already presented me with five incredibly promising skill options:

[Eye of the Overlord]

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• Type: Passive

• Description: A passive skill that allows you to observe the basic status of any citizen under your rule. You can also see the general info of any creature or item inside your territory.

• Cost: 20 Points

[Lord’s Blessing — Level 1]

• Type: Active

• Description: Spend Points to enhance a citizen’s attributes or even upgrade their skills.

• Cost: 20 Points

[Rule Maker]

• Type: Active — Toggle

• Description: Spend Points to create rules. Citizens will be rewarded if they follow them or punished if they break them.

• Cost: 150 Points

[Quest Creation]

• Type: Active

• Description: Grants the ability to assign basic quests to your citizens.

• Cost: 20 Points

[Tax Collection — Level 1]

• Type: Passive

• Description: Each citizen will generate Points for you daily. Upgrading this skill increases the amount of Points generated.

• Cost: 200 Points

(More skills will be available once you upgrade the Sovereign Shop: Vassal’s Eyes; Ruler’s Voice, Devolution)

***

Yeah… isn’t this amazing?